I am following a painful but fascinating tale of Pet
Hi Fellow Listers

I am following a painful but fascinating tale of Peter "Indian" and Shaccoe Will, a "Negro" slave of Wm Byrd and Shaw (no first name), a "Negro" man of Lt. Giles Webb along with Humphrey Jones, a planter in Henrico County, VA in 1695 were accused of breaking into Wm. Byrd's property and stealing a large amount of valuable goods. I was tracking Shaw (who may be an ancestor of mine) when I came across court records about their indictments. 

Jones was found to be guilty but bailable, but the others were found guilty and were held over to be tried by a Commission of Oyer and Terminer session. I would like to know how to search for the trial and results of the trial in Virginia colonial court records, if extant. I found out that for capital offenses in that time period slaves and Indians were often tried in the Commission of Oyer and Terminer sessions, and just googling that term, I came across a reference to a series of books titled Virgiinia Colonial Abstracts vol. 16 Richmond COunty Records - but upon a little more research I think this is referring to an area near Old Rappahannock County, not Richmond in Henrico. I was thinking to look in other Henrico county court records or other colonial records, (journals of the Burgesses,  executive journals, calendar of VA papers, etc.) But I am not sure if Commission of Oyer and Terminer were state courts trials or took place within the county.
 Thanks 

______________________________________
To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html